Therapy for political rage? Smashing nuts

Raising my mallet high, I bashed the green husk.

Bam! Bam! Bam! The husk began to tear, and then flayed off, ripping through the newspaper I’d spread out on the concrete driveway. Brute force never felt so necessary or so therapeutic.

My grief over the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined my rage after Republicans almost immediately maneuvered to fill the court’s vacancy. My mind turned to what would happen in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 3 election, how to fight voter suppression and how to flip seats in the U.S. Senate in races across the country. To clear my head, I went for a walk. As we’ve sheltered in place, our family has found solace outside, which made the recent sequestering due to poor air quality excruciating. We emerged in time for autumn. Everywhere you look right now, wild nuts have fallen, ready for harvest. I’ve been on the lookout for bay nuts, acorns and whatever else I may find.

I discovered what looked like palmsized footballs, redolent of pine, scattered beneath a towering tree. My husband and I gathered a few and, with the help of the iNaturalist app and online foraging guides, I made a preliminary guess: They were butternuts, also known as white walnuts. They have apparently become an elusive find, with the trees in decline because of cankers, a fungal disease.

I confirmed its name after I whacked it apart and discovered at its heart what resembled the walnut, albeit a tender and chewy one without the requisite curing. With the way this year has been going, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find a creepycrawly, springing into my face like a demented jackinthebox.

Instead — as I dehusked the butternuts, rinsed them off, and set them aside to cure for the next month — my busy hands settled my roiling mind.

In between my labors, I talked and texted with friends. It gave me hope to hear about their efforts, whether text banking with Field Team 6 and the BidenHarris campaign, or sending notes via Postcards to Voters. They’ve donated to candidates, as well as to the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which pays fees and fines preventing people with past felony convictions from voting, and Asian Americans Against Trump’s efforts to reach voters in their native tongues in battleground states.

Ginsburg is slated to lie in state at the Capitol on Friday, after the public paid respects to her this week at the Supreme Court. The president — who reportedly plans to announce his nominee the next day — appears to have enough support in the Senate. The Affordable Care Act, abortion rights and other social issues hang in the balance.

If the president rams through his pick despite vociferous calls to wait until after the election, there is a nuclear option. According to legal analysts, if the Democrats take power in Congress and in the White House, and get rid of the Senate filibuster, they can expand the number of justices, which has fluctuated between six and 10 since the court’s inception.

It’s been nine since 1869. In 1937, Franklin Roosevelt tried to boost it to 15.

The option, which has previously been bandied about in political and legal circles, seems equivalent to bashing open a tough nut — a messy last resort. It’s uncertain whether Democrats will counter Republican hypocrisy in this way, but the notion comforted me at a time when all felt lost.

A couple days ago, my brother dropped off a 3pound sack of walnuts, which makes the effort I’ve put into processing their feral cousin a bit preposterous. After a dozen or so butternuts finish curing, I’ll use a vise to crack open the shell, so the center emerges whole. All that work, for a few glorious bites.

Even still, as a nut harvest newbie, I’m thinking about its lessons in patience and sustained direct pressure — lessons that just might help me get through the election season.

Everywhere you look, wild nuts have fallen, ready for harvest. I’ve been on the lookout for bay nuts, acorns and whatever else I may find.